Subtle he’s not, but this pantomime punk knows how to put on a show
‘Have you been cooped up like a chicken? Are you ready to lose control?” asked Dominic Harrison towards the end of Monday night’s show at the O2 Forum Kentish Town. Then the artist known as Yungblud started a “f--- Covid” chant and threw his mic stand into a stack of fake Marshall amps before pouring a beer over himself, perhaps as a sign of solidarity with the audience.
Yungblud has never been what you’d call meek. His debut album, 2018’s 21st Century Liability, was an eclectic alt-rock record that spoke about rape culture, anxiety and growing up in the north of England. While it didn’t make much of a dent in the charts, his energetic live show quickly earned him a diehard fanbase. By the end of 2019, Yungblud had gone from playing whatever tiny venue would have him, to selling out the 5,000-capacity Brixton Academy. His second album, Weird!, was inspired by that night but released at the end of 2020.
Sure, over the pandemic the 24-year-old has hosted Youtube variety shows and gone on a virtual tour to help bridge the gap between him and his audience, but those digital experiences never came close to the chaotic energy Harrison generates in the flesh. Here he was finally unleashed on the capital.
With a curtain covering the stage, the show started with a The Rocky Horror Picture Show inspired video that saw Harrison’s lipstick-red mouth asking the room if they were “ready to celebrate love and unity with all your being”. The screams were deafening.
Opening with his hedonistic party anthem Strawberry Lipstick, the entire standing area quickly became an unruly mosh pit. A Johnny Rotten for the Tiktok generation, Harrison wore a mesh shirt, Joy Division crop-top and a red PVC skirt, looking like he’d spent the day shopping at the nearby Camden Market.
Onstage, he had a cartoonish presence that was more pantomime than punk. That over-the-top character helped him command a setlist that veered from the glam rock of The Freak Show to the emo theatrics of God Save Me, But Don’t Drown Me Out.
His songs of teenage angst were sometimes very on the nose. The pop punk snarl of Parents was introduced as “a song about parents not always being right” while Anarchist saw Harrison ask the crowd to put their middle fingers up and shout “f--- you man”. For the kids who came with a guardian, I’m sure it felt very rebellious, but even for those not living under the threat of being grounded, the brash, bold energy was impossible to resist.
From beginning to end, Yungblud proved himself to be the future of rock’n’roll. It wasn’t subtle, but what good rockstar ever has been?
At the Forum until Saturday. Tickets: yungblud official.com